Other forms: coffins; coffined; coffining
The long wooden box in which a dead body is kept for burial or cremation is called a coffin. At a graveside funeral, you'll see the coffin lowered into a grave.
Most coffins are made of wood, though they can also be steel, fiberglass, or bamboo. A coffin is generally thought of as the same thing as a casket, although some people distinguish between a six-sided coffin and a four-sided casket. The earliest meaning of coffin, from the 14th century, was "box for valuables," from the Latin cophinus, "basket or hamper," and the Greek root kophinos, "a basket."